The present invention relates to an automation system for various plant parts, which partially interact with one another, of a commercial-size, automatic industrial plant, and in particular of a primary industry plant, for example coke ovens. The common automation system has automation devices which carry out individual functions and which are connected, by means of data lines, to a master control unit and, via the latter, to one another.
Commercial-size, automatic industrial plants having several parts have a multiplicity of individual functions to be controlled and regulated in an interacting manner. The individual functions are usually monitored, controlled and regulated by automation systems, for example, the Simatic S5 system of Siemens AG. In the past the individual automation devices either exchanged data directly with one another or communicated via a bus system, with one another and with a master control unit, if the plant had such a unit. The individual automation devices were connected to the bus system via parallel or, more often, serial interfaces.
A corresponding system and the automation devices used in it are shown, for example, by the Simatic S5 brochure "Individuelle Losungen fur jede Automatisierungsaufgabe" (Individual solutions for every automation task) of Siemens AG, Order no. A 19100-E81-B552. On the page "Offene Kommunikation in jeder Automatisierungsebene" (Open communication on every automation level), open, local bus systems are shown by way of example. Such automation systems can be used universally and are good at meeting the requirements for a partially or fully automatic mode of operating plants. However, the data management in such automation systems requires a relatively considerable effort. Further, in the event of plant extensions or modifications, parts of the software systems must be newly created. Furthermore, in the event of plant modifications or extensions, interface problems also often arise. In addition, large volumes of data have to be moved via the bus systems and/or the master control unit. Reprogramming operations require considerable effort and are therefore often deferred, even when such reprogramming operations are necessary.
A "Prozessleitsystem fur eine Kokereianlage" (Process control system for a coking plant), equipped with freely programmable, autonomous control devices, is known from "Haus der Technik, Vortragsveroffentlichungen 485" (House of technology, lecture publications 485), Authors: H. Schmidt-Balve and U. Pruser, pages 4 to 9. In the Schmidt-Balve article, and in particular FIG. 3, sensors, stored-program controllers (SPCs) and an operating control computer form a process level, a data processing level and a master control level. Unfortunately, in the process control system discussed in the Schmidt-Balve article, considerable data management effort and interface problems arise. Since the volume of data to be processed by the master control computer is great, its failure or a loss of data have serious consequences.
A configuration of a process control system of a similar type with three levels, but using largely the same automation devices, is shown by the automation structure of Kokerei Prosper, which is published under the title "Homogene Automatisierungsstruktur lost Nahtstellenprobleme" (Homogeneous automation structure solves interface problems) in the journal Siemens Energy & Automation, 8th year, Issue 4, May/June 1986 on pages 219 to 223. Here, the automation devices of the master control level are connected in a star manner to the automation devices of the processing level. This also applies to the fault messages. Although the hierarchical structure shown is already subdivided and the device types are largely standardized, the plant is nevertheless still configured on the principle of conventional technology of known automation systems.
It is the object of the present invention to specify a commercial-size, automatic industrial plant having several parts, and in particular a primary industry plant, which is configured in an advantageous, novel way with respect to its automation structure. It is a further object of the present invention to considerably relieve the existing data buses and interfaces compared with the known process control systems. Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to permit autonomous continued operation of the individual plant parts even in the event of faults in the master control unit and its peripherals, in the bus system or in any automation group without having to rely on elaborate redundancy.